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Jun 07, 2020
If you like your mystery novels like you like your salesmen (that is, constantly saying “But wait, there’s more!”), you will love Murder on the Orient Express, one of many descriptive, devious, and entertaining mystery novels by Agatha Christie. Murder on the Orient Express features Agatha Christie’s characteristic dapper Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, as he tries to solve the mystery of a businessman named Ratchett violently stabbed to death, all while the train he and several other passengers are on has been stopped by snow. Before him are a considerable number of puzzling clues. For one, Ratchett had asked Poirot previously for his help in protecting him, as he had been receiving several anonymous death notes. Secondly, his body has twelve stab wounds. Finally, there are several items that might link the crime to the murderer: a handkerchief monogrammed with the letter “H”, a pipe cleaner, a match, and a burnt piece of paper with the word “Armstrong” on it. Poirot eventually links Ratchett and all the other passengers to a conspiracy that runs deeper than any first-time reader could ever predict. Murder on the Orient Express, one of Agatha Christie’s most well-known works, is a masterfully crafted novel, and you never know who actually murdered Ratchett until the very end. This novel has had several adaptations, including two films, a radio show, three television shows (including a Japanese version), a play, and a point and click video game. It is a much beloved novel and one of many that characterized Hercule Poirot as one of many famous fictional detectives. Murder on the Orient Express is an amazing novel, and I highly recommend that you read it.